Hinton turned out to be a tiny, heavily industrialized town nestled in a valley between the mountains. Surprisingly, it seemed decently well defended, with an eight foot brick wall around the perimeter, and a PMC team patrolling it.
“The locals are expecting me, right, Nyx?” I asked as the truck circled so I could inspect the layout.
The Family did inform the local corps that someone would be arriving today, Nyx confirmed.
“Not the local government?” I asked, glancing back at my bears.
The corporations are, for all intents and purposes, the government here. Global Rare-earth and Industrial Mining Corp, and Aurora Geological Exploration Systems employ over ninety percent of the population. The local government has very little actual power here, Nyx replied.
“I wish I had known that before coming. I would have demanded more,” I muttered. “Where’s the mine?”
It’s the fortified complex on the south side of the city. I’ve sent a request to approach, but it was rejected by security.
“They know I’m a samurai, right?” I asked.
They’ve still denied it. The head of security claims they need to wait for someone from corporate to show up before they can allow you access, Nyx replied.
“Yeah… screw that. I’m not going to sit around and wait for some corporate peon to give me access. Park the truck by the gate.”
The truck turned sharply, and started descending, giving me my first look at the structure. It had high concrete walls dotted with automated weapon emplacements and was patrolled by what appeared to be a professional PMC. The place looked like a fortress, or a prison.
Even before the truck touched the ground, a small group of guards had already gathered out front of the main gate. I parked just off the main road to make sure I wasn’t blocking access before jumping out.
“This area is restricted. If you do not move your vehicle, we are authorized to use force to remove you,” the front guard announced as they approached. From what I could tell, the leader was an experienced combatant. His short brown hair barely covered the large burn scar along one side of his face, and his arms were marked with a series of suspiciously parallel scars. His compatriots all seemed similarly skilled and walked with confidence. The entire squad had full combat armor and assault rifles—not exactly standard equipment for a place like this. As I hopped down, a couple guards looked at me with raised eyebrows, but the leader persisted. “I’m warning you, leave now or…”
The words died in his throat as Bob rounded the front of the truck, and the other bears started climbing out of the back. “Or what?” I taunted. “You’ll shoot me?”
“You’re a samurai…” one of the guards whispered.
“No shit. I was told you were expecting me. I didn’t expect a welcoming party as soon as I arrived,” I said as I casually approached the group.
“We were told someone from headquarters would be assigned to escort you around, and not to let you into the compound until they arrive,” the captain said hesitantly.
“Well, tough. I’m here to search the tunnels for a possible antithesis presence, and I’m not going to wait around for some corporate drone that’s only being assigned to try and hide some corporate secret. You can either step aside and let me do my job, or my bears will move you.”
“I cannot let you in. It would void our contract with the company and result in massive penalties,” the guard captain said, gripping his rifle tighter.
“It’s a fucking mine! What’s with all the security?! Afraid the indents will run away?!” I yelled.
“We’re under a strict NDA and cannot discuss any details about this site,” the captain mumbled. I was actually impressed that he and his team hadn’t backed down.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Fine,” I growled, “Then I’ll just tranq you all and go in anyway. Bob, open the door.”
The big bear lumbered forward, and one of the security officers tried to get in his way, only to be ‘gently’ shoved to the side. As a couple of the other guards half-heartedly raised their rifles, unsure if they should actually engage or not, the side of my trailer dropped open, allowing the foxes already set up within to open fire. The entire security detail dropped in an instant.
“At least you can claim you didn’t let me in voluntarily,” I said quietly as I stepped over the guards and towards the main gate. The sound of rending metal echoed out as Bob casually folded the reinforced metal gate in half, creating an easy entrance. “If any of the other security approaches me, tranq them,” I told the mob of bears that formed up around me.
The area beyond the gate was full of people, and even though they kept their distance from me, they kept working. At the far end of the compound, a series of robotic loaders were dragging carts full of materials out of the mine, and dumping them directly into a series of furnaces.
“Nyx, is that how they normally process ore?” I asked, eyes narrowing.
No, it’s not. According to the company records, they hit a fresh vein of ore, but that would require a full forge to process, not furnaces,” Nyx replied as I approached the setup. “Give me a moment to investigate. Done. According to everything within the GRIM Corp Network they are still pulling ore out of the mine, but according to an isolated device located in the shipping office, they’re also harvesting another substance and sending it to a subsidiary. It’s an organic polymer that requires thermal cutting tools to harvest, and provides excellent sound and signal isolation.
“Let me guess…” I said, as I walked up to one of the carts. Inside was a pile of crystalized goop.
They seem to be harvesting the antithesis compound. According to the records The Family sent you, the cleanup crews incinerated everything when they came through six months ago.”
“So this shit can’t be from Sharron’s area. They hit another tunnel,” I said.
Correct.
“Is it safe?” I asked, poking the crystals with my gun.
If it’s properly processed, melted down, it’s practically harmless to humans. However, the antithesis tend to embed model seven eggs within the lining as an extra layer of protection against intruders.
“Which is probably why they’re processing it on site. Motherfuckers probably lost a bunch of people to sevens before they learned to process it,” I sighed. “Send a message to The Family, and let them know what these assholes are doing. I doubt it’s illegal to harvest this shit, but they should have reported hitting more tunnels.”
I stepped away from the cart and briefly considered ordering Bob to bust up the entire operation, before deciding against it. I was here to check the tunnels, and, to be honest, the corps would probably just rebuild the operation as soon as I left. Nothing was going to stop them while there was profit to be made. It would be satisfying, though.
While I was contemplating my next move, I heard someone start shouting behind me, back by the gate. “Hey! Excuse me! Miss Samurai!”
I turned back to find a weaselly-looking man in a freshly-pressed suit rushing towards me, his forehead covered in sweat. While he was running towards me, I sent a quick command to the squirrels to start mapping the tunnels and the bears to take up guard positions. Seeing my bots enter the mine just seemed to make the man panic more. “I’m sorry, ma’am, can you please not send your troops into the mine?”
“Why? Did you want to hide the fact that you’re harvesting antithesis materials?” I asked casually.
He noticeably paled, and flinched back, stopping in the middle of the loading area. “No…”
“Well, lucky for you, I don’t care about that. I’m here to investigate the tunnel systems and the fact you opened up new access points makes it easier for me,” I said walking towards him, Bob at my back. “Since I already know what you’re doing, there’s no point in hiding it, so you WILL provide whatever maps you have of the system, understand?”
The man cowered from me, nodding frantically. “Understood. It’ll be here within the hour,” he straightened up, ever so slightly. “Does that mean you’re not going to impose sanctions on the company for not reporting the new tunnels?”
“If I wanted to fuck with your company, it would be for scarring my friend while she was an indent here,” I said, shooting him an angry look. “But as far as fucking with the company for not reporting this shit, I dont care.” The man sagged in relief. “The Family however, may have other ideas, I’ve already reported this place to them.”
The man immediately tensed up again, and looked at me in horror. “You assholes brought this on yourselves, I’m just here to check the tunnels. Either stay out of my way, or you’ll have a much closer, and angrier issue than The Family. Got it?” I asked, leaning in close. He nodded again. “Good, now fuck off.”
The man immediately fled back towards the gate, and I let him go. The greedy corporation and its lackeys weren’t my highest priority right now. The fact that the corp dug into more tunnels meant Mirage was right; the antithesis had all but hollowed the mountain, and that either meant they’d been digging for years, or they had a massive horde in there. Either way it wasn’t good, and I was going to have to figure out which it was, before it was too late.